Elvanite Full Circle v AMEC Earth
Meaning of limitation clause requiring
"filing" of a claim
The parties entered into a contract which contained a provision
that "all claims by the client shall be deemed relinquished
unless filed within one (1) year after substantial completion of
the services". The parties to a contract may vary the ordinary
six year limitation period - for example, in Inframatrix
Investments v Dean Construction (see Weekly Update 31/11), the
parties agreed that no action or proceedings were to be brought
after the expiry of one year. However, in this case, the clause
required all claims to be "filed" within one year.
Coulson J noted (obiter, since he had already decided that the
claim would fail) that in the High Court proceedings are commenced
when a claim is issued in accordance with CPR r7.2. Accordingly,
the word "filed" was not apt to describe the commencement
of proceedings: "in particular, the "filing of
claims" is not a process
